The hope was that a complete restoration and modernization would bring life back to three neoclassic beauties that formerly served as Phoenix Union High School—but time had not treated them kindly. Built in 1911, one year before Arizona became the country's 48th state, the historic high school buildings endured nearly a century of wear and tear and suffered major water damage and years of termite infestation that severely compromised their wood-frame interior structures. There was considerable hand-wringing over how much of the three-story buildings could be salvaged.
After extensive review, the Building Team devised a $19.6 million program where all three buildings would be saved and reborn as the 84,435-sf University of Arizona College of Medicine. It was precisely that concern for rescuing the trio of buildings that caught our judges' attention. “Reusing three buildings is quite significant. It just isn't something you think to do too often,” says Walker C. Johnson, FAIA, principal at Johnson Lasky Architects in Chicago.
Only one of the three buildings was discovered to be structurally unsound. Its entire wood-frame interior was dismantled and replaced with a steel-frame system. To protect its historic masonry shell, all the work had to be performed through the building's existing window openings. The other two buildings were shored up as necessary, and all three were fitted with new operable, insulated, and historically sensitive windows.
Another concern focused on how best to fit the necessary classroom space and technology required of a 21st-century medical college into turn-of-the-20th-century buildings. When it was discovered that up to 40% of the buildings' available space would be sacrificed to staircases, elevators, and bathrooms (each floor plate is approximately 7,000 sf), the decision was made to locate those elements in newly constructed space—two modern glass “outhouses” (translucent glass wrapped about masonry cubes) connected by glass bridges to two of the buildings. “The additions are unique architectural solutions that don't draw the focus away from the original buildings,” says Jeff Pratt, principal at KJWW Engineering Consultants, Naperville, Ill., and one of BD+C's Reconstruction Award judges.
Additional interior reconfiguration focused on the building's auditorium. While the state's Historic Preservation Office (which had to approve all work) would have liked the auditorium completely restored, the university needed to borrow some of the space for much needed classrooms.
A compromise was reached and a building within a building was erected: one half the space is still used as the auditorium while the other half is classroom space for the state-of-the-art T-Health (telehealth and telemedicine) program. The walls can easily be removed, the space dismantled, and the auditorium returned to its original size. This design feature was lauded by juror K. Nam Shiu, VP at Walker Restoration Consultants, Elgin, Ill., who said, “The work done on the interior is very forward-thinking.”
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Fashion school gives old building a make over
A new art facility for LIM, the College for the Business of Fashion, in midtown Manhattan is the result of a gut renovation of a six-story townhouse-school built in 1880. The new facility will continue LIM's mission of educating undergraduates on the business side of fashion. Architecture firm Butler Rogers Baskett transformed the old building's claustrophobic layout into a modern, multifunctio...
| Aug 11, 2010
Biomedical center to join London's research scene
The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, a partnership of scientific organizations researching new treatments for illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, hopes to attract leading medical scientists to its planned research center. Designed by HOK London, the building will be located on 3.
| Aug 11, 2010
San Diego Mesa College enhances math and science facilities
A $92 million, 180,000-sf instructional center soon will rise at the heart of San Diego Mesa College in California. Slated to open in November 2012, the Math and Science Building will be funded by Propositions S and N construction bond program. The blueprint calls for four floors of classrooms, laboratory space, and offices for several science departments.
| Aug 11, 2010
College uses renewable materials in new library
A 93,000-sf Library and Academic Resource Center will replace Los Angeles Valley College's 1960s-vintage library. Pfeiffer Partners Architects designed the building to be consistent with the college's master plan, with its learning clusters and arcade circulation system. To obtain LEED certification, the center will use recycled and renewable materials, such as bamboo.
| Aug 11, 2010
Tufts University puts bite into new dental school addition
The recently dedicated Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, in Boston, represents the culmination of a 22-month vertical expansion of the school's original 1972 building. The $68 million project involved constructing five new stories totaling 95,000 sf atop the building's existing 10 stories, which were also remodeled.
| Aug 11, 2010
Northeast Lakeview College opens in Texas, to serve 15,000 students
After four years of construction, Northeast Lakeview College, the newest addition to Alamo Colleges, is complete. Designed by Overland Partners Architects in collaboration with Ford Powell & Carson, the nine-building, 285-acre campus in Universal City, near San Antonio, will serve up to 15,000 students.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dual physics buildings aim for LEED Silver
Two new physics buildings providing 197,000 sf of teaching, study, and office space are opening at Texas A&M University. The $82.5-million George P. Mitchell '40 Physics Building and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy offer new research laboratories, graduate and undergraduate lounges, offices, a 468-seat lecture hall, and a 180-seat aud...
| Aug 11, 2010
Recreation facility scores with sustainable features
A new $79.1 million health and learning center is under construction on the Northern Arizona University campus in Flagstaff. The 270,000-sf facility will house recreation space, classrooms, health and counseling services, and the Lumberjack Stadium for track and soccer teams. Designed by the Phoenix office of OWP/P Cannon Design with Mortenson Construction as CM, the project is aiming for LEED ...
| Aug 11, 2010
University building gets revamped, reused
KSS Architects of Philadelphia is designing the addition and renovation to SUNY Cortland's Studio West, a 43,000-sf metal panel and brick building dating to 1948. The 20,000-sf, two-story addition will become the Professional Studies Building, housing the consolidated departments of Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Studies; Communications Disorders and Sciences; and Kinesiology and Sports Managem...
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.